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How to scare a Model off from working with you.
A. Ask them when they are available to do a shoot. Never ceases to amaze me how many times I contact a model on a site such as this or they contact me and we have a discussion where they tell you how much they love your work and are keen to shoot with you,right up till the time you ask when they are free? After that, Crickets. I'm about double most models age so I'm wondering if asking " When are you available to shoot?" is some modern day sort of code for " I'm a criminally insane deviot who wants to hack your body into little pieces" and I missed that somewhere along the line. Apr 14 13 01:55 am Link Lol. Had this happen to me last week!! Spoke to model for a week, organised lights, ect day,,,but when it came to pinpointing a time and location, I never heard back!! Maybe granny died??? Apr 14 13 01:59 am Link You're not alone with the crickets ... the silence can be deafening at times ... I'm hearing you ! Apr 14 13 02:02 am Link Making bitter rants in the forum is also an excellent llama repellent. The flake llamas don't generally read them, and you'll throughly annoy the reliable ones who make use of them. This belongs in OT Apr 14 13 02:03 am Link It's not a model problem, it's a unprofessional people problem. I experienced exactly the same thing with photographers when I was a model. Apr 14 13 02:20 am Link landofy wrote: This... its not exclusively a model problem. Apr 14 13 02:40 am Link Review the 'models' portfolio... (They get photos taken so they are models....... Duh) 90% chance their lack response- or pro flake ism, is due to who they've worked with recently. They generalize you with the last guy. He bagged and fought for their time, just as you, but after his wife was finally out shopping and she sat in his garage for 2 hours listening to the 'oh yeah.... thats hot' (heavy breathing) the 'model' is over it. Move on to the next model. We would be out of business if Sears portrait studio started doing Trade for Tools. All they really want is a couple hours camera time.  Apr 14 13 02:54 am Link Paige Morgan wrote: Please, Spare me the white Knight crawling. Apr 14 13 05:05 am Link narie wrote: That is an interesting and valid point. Apr 14 13 05:19 am Link LOL... how true. what up with that? its a hobby for 90% and the MM girls just are not serous about playing llama. if a better offer comes along they bounce like its a sale at Macy's. Apr 14 13 05:29 am Link This past week, I had a photographer contact me and ask my rates. I gave him a RIDICULOUSLY reasonable rate. Next thing I knew, he was going on about how "HE doesn't pay models--models pay HIM." Like someone else already said, it's NOT a "model problem." It's an "unprofessional people" problem. Apr 14 13 06:32 am Link Paige Morgan wrote: Also this. Apr 14 13 06:33 am Link glumpy wrote: Oh, and Paige is a female model, and therefore, probably not "white knighting" it... just fyi. Apr 14 13 06:34 am Link Rachel-Elise wrote: ^True. Apr 14 13 06:44 am Link Here I thought what scared them off was when your finishing up with logistics and you actually put your phone number down saying contact me the day before the shoot to let me know the shoot is still booked and you'll be there.  How wrong was I.  Apr 14 13 06:48 am Link Yes, yes, yes! Apr 14 13 06:49 am Link ' How to scare a Model off from working with you' Something like saying 'I'm a fashion photographer' in a bio but the port is 99% nudes. Things such as this put models of. Apr 14 13 06:49 am Link Paige Morgan wrote: LOL Apr 14 13 07:05 am Link glumpy wrote: I could say the same for photographers. I was suppose to have 3 shoots this past week...they all seem to have died in some horrible crash. Because they sure are ignoring me... Apr 14 13 08:32 am Link How to scare a Model off from working with you. When she sends you a PM telling you how much she loves your work and really wants to be in your portfolio........ Send her your rates. That'll usually do the trick. Apr 14 13 08:35 am Link i try to close the deal as quickly as possible (which means i usually don't do elaborate pre-shoot planning, at least for untested models). no point spending a lot of time on something that isn't meant to be. once a model has shown herself to be reliable then i'm more open to investing time planning the next shoot. if i put in a lot of time planning something out then i can do a casting call and find models who are interested in that particular type of shoot. Apr 14 13 08:38 am Link glumpy wrote: I've got that a bit too, doesn't bother me too much though - if they don't want a shoot with me and my stylists then that is more of a their problem thing rather than mine. Apr 14 13 08:38 am Link c_h_r_i_s wrote: I like it when photographers break down their portfolios in things like: fashion, swim, lingerie, commercial - and they all look pretty much the same. Maybe those all turned into keywords for "bad glamour"? Apr 14 13 08:40 am Link WBUR's On Point Radio recently discussed the changing nature of how we communicate. So much so that the younger generation barely even checks email, if at all: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/04/03/communication ...& in the future it may be wise to ask what their preferred method of communications is. Personally I think its the changing nature in how we do communicate (through mobile devices), it enables people being quick to initiate but it falls apart on the follow-through. & this just isn't limited to models either. Apr 14 13 08:41 am Link Rachel-Elise wrote: This pretty much says it all. Apr 14 13 08:53 am Link Paige Morgan wrote: 1 Apr 14 13 08:56 am Link glumpy wrote: No need to be rude. Apr 14 13 08:57 am Link I think sometimes on their part it's about the 'hunt and chase'. The photog loses whe he catches the 'game'. Apr 14 13 09:00 am Link Sometimes the reality of things is to immense. It takes nothing to compliment your work and discuss future plans... it takes something to actually do those plans. Frankly if they go crickets... they are saving you the hassle of showing up and it not being good... I rather people come work with me when they see it as an opportunity greater than the hassle of actually doing the work. Mo Rina said exactly what I was trying to say... right below me. but she said it better and she is way hotter than me! Apr 14 13 09:04 am Link 
Model Posts: 6639 MacMurdo - permanent station of the US, Sector claimed by New Zealand, Antarctica I am going to assume you are offering TF to these models, although, if you are offering a small amount of pay or just gas money, this still applies. When you are dealing with hobbyists, you are fighting against all the other things that make demands on that person's time - family, friends, work/school, their other hobbies, etc. When you contact a model, she looks at your portfolio, and thinks "sure, why not?" and thinks it would be nice to shoot with you. When you try to pin down a date, that's when the reality of prioritizing all the other things in her life has to start. Before the actual commitment has to be made, there's not a huge investment. When it comes time to make the commitment, that's when she is going to look twice and three times again at your portfolio, maybe check a few references, and figure out does she REALLY REALLY want to shoot with you, because it means giving up something else. At this point she is looking for a reason NOT to shoot with you. When you pay a model a reasonable rate, she will prioritize the shoot with you and choose to shoot over getting together with her family or friends, because there is an obvious reason to do so. Shooting trade is a crap shoot...there is no guarantee a model is going to get anything of value from a trade shoot. Rather than bitch about this happening over and over, look at your actions and what you can do to overcome it. Either pay models and/or work harder to get them interested in shooting with you - share your concept with them, tell them why you chose them, specifically, for the concept. Make them feel like an integral part of the shoot. Fill your portfolio with shots that flatter the models, so they see what they can gain from trading with you. Apr 14 13 09:07 am Link I think the whole problem is the membership both photographers and models. Hopefully a flock of raptors of some kind will sweep in and remove all of the crickets. (Crickets is one prey raptors eat when hunting is poor). Emails left on this system or PM's as people like to call them take days before an answer comes back. One can chalk a part of this up to site performance issues but its only a small part. The rest is just humans not having basic proper communication skills that professionals in other niches have mastered. I call my Doctor they call me back. I call my Attorney they call me back. I email my manager he emails me back.. and so on. All within 2 to 3 hours not 2 to 3 days. Tags, messages, casting calls, etc. only work if members bother to read them. I am working with a model right now and for the life of me can not get the model to give me a cell phone number and a non model mayhem email that is checked daily. I always provide my information in first contact so it is expected that if the other party is interested in working with the other they provide the same in first contact. Hmmm... maybe I am a disguised ax murderer of some kind posing as a photographer. Apr 14 13 09:11 am Link glumpy wrote: Perhaps your booking issues are partially caused by both your sparkling, EVER so charming personality and your complete lack of reading comprehension. Apr 14 13 09:24 am Link MoRina wrote: Wrong on so many levels. Paid work goes unanswered as well.... When I was paying models it would take weeks before a shoot gelled. Apr 14 13 09:25 am Link never ceases to amaze me when a photographer with next to no experience gets advice from an experienced person in the industry and utterly shoots them down, then cries about why nobody and nothing will work for him. glumpy wrote: Apr 14 13 09:27 am Link Karl Johnston wrote: Some people are allergic to logic....on the plus side his personal attack/temper tantrum handily answered his own essential question regarding why he's having trouble getting models to follow through Apr 14 13 09:33 am Link glumpy wrote: The unfortunate truth is that sh*t happens whether photog or model. IMO, it's always been a part of the "negotiating game" relative to a new shoot with strangers/someone you've never worked with. It either works or it doesn't. If it doesn't...yes...you can try to break it down 6 ways to Sunday as to the drivers for the breakdown....bottom line...it didn't happen...either move on...or continue to stew and get all ate up...throw your hands in the air and run around the room pulling your hair out...the choice is yours...last I checked...there were several thousand models on this site....so if you're batting 0...the problem just might be you....just sayin... Apr 14 13 09:49 am Link MoRina wrote: I guess maybe our experiences are different but I haven't remotely found that to be the case. Apr 14 13 09:51 am Link Rachel-Elise wrote: You sure about that last part? Apr 14 13 09:54 am Link I've found I have the most success when booking local models to set a date as soon as possible after they reply. Strike while the iron is hot so to speak. I have been guilty myself on occasion of letting a shoot slip away because it wasn't planned soon enough and something else shiny came along. As for booking traveling models, I book them as far in advance as possible, probably 75% of the models I shoot now are travelers, they're committed and when they show up in your town they really do have pretty much nothing else to do except shoot. Works for me. Apr 14 13 10:07 am Link Paige Morgan wrote: Being a forum bully doesn't do much for someone's image either! Definitely another form of repellant. Apr 14 13 10:14 am Link |
